3. Lethal Weapon

1987

What do you get when you combine a world-weary detective on the brink of retirement with an L.A. cop with suicidal tendencies? The answer is Lethal Weapon, an Odd Couple homage with guns, explosions and Mel Gibson’s feathery mullet thrown in for good measure. This Oscar-nominated film prompted three more successful sequels featuring the same dynamite cast.

Coolest moment: It’s nearly impossible to control your blood pressure during the scene in which Mel Gibson beats the snot out of Gary Busey in an unarmed altercation. Busey has since credited the film, and that sequence in particular, with reviving his flagging acting career.

Fun fact: Director Franco Zeffirelli was so impressed with Gibson’s portrayal of a suicidal cop that he offered him the titular role of the melancholy Dane in Hamlet.